Corporate News
The Globe and Mail’s The Power Gap
Only 36% of Canadian women earn over $100,000/year compared to men – but pay inequity only tells part of the story
January 25, 2021
On average, Canadian women make only 87 cents to every dollar made by a man. While that statistic is damning, a Globe and Mail investigation has found pay equity to be only a very small part of the problem faced by women in Canadian workplaces.
The real issue is the Power Gap—the sheer lack of women in positions of power.
“The Power Gap has a very real effect on Canadians,” says lead reporter Robyn Doolittle, who worked alongside data journalist Chen Wang. “As well as preventing women from achieving the levels of power and influence their work and expertise deserve, it has resulted in biased research, public policy, and funding decisions that can be harmful to our communities. This has only been exacerbated during the pandemic, as more women drop out of the workforce.”
Over the last 2.5 years, The Globe’s examination into women’s presence in higher levels of the professional workforce—involving a data set of 82 universities, 25 cities, seven provincial government departments, and 130 publicly funded companies—has revealed the depth of the inequities between men and women. In addition, reporter Tavia Grant took a closer look at women in power in companies on the TSX and found a troubling dearth of women in C-suite positions.
Personal anecdotes from women in the workforce highlight the real-life implications of these disparities, including stalled careers and job loss. The Globe has also collected a trove of data that lays bare the extent of the problem.
The investigation and findings are now on globeandmail.com. The Globe will be exploring the Power Gap over the next year, what it means for the Canadian workforce and economy, and solutions.
Doolittle is also known for Unfounded, her award-winning examination of police handling of sexual assault in Canada. She’s the author of Had It Coming – What’s Fair In The Age of #MeToo? and Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story.